Southern California -- this just in

Authorities believe they have found remains of Lynsie Ekelund, 20-year-old Fullerton College student who disappeared in 2001 [Updated]

November 4, 2010 | 9:40
am

Remains believed to be those of Lynsie Ekelund, a 20-year-old Fullerton College student who has been missing since 2001, have been discovered on a hillside in Santa Clarita, authorities said Thursday.

Last week, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charged Christopher McAmis, 31, with murder in the Ekelund case, said spokeswoman Jane Robison. McAmis told authorities that Ekelund's remains were at a construction site where he worked at the time, according to the Placentia Police Department.

[For the record at 12:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this post cited Robison as the source for information that McAmis led authorities to the remains. The Placentia Police Department provided that information.]

Investigators began the recovery effort Wednesday at a site off Bouquet Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, said Lt. Brian Elias of the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

McAmis was arrested Oct. 27 at his home in Fullerton, officials said.

Authorities allege that on the morning of Feb. 17, 2001, McAmis attempted to rape Ekelund at his apartment in Whittier, and then killed her and disposed of the body. McAmis had driven Ekelund and two other friends to a San Diego nightclub that evening.

Ekelund's mother, Nancy, who lived in Placentia at the time, reported her daughter missing the next day. Shortly after the disappearance, Nancy Ekelund told The Times she was holding out hope. "It's been two weeks, but I'm not going to allow myself to think negatively," she said.

Placentia police interviewed McAmis at the time but said he was not a suspect. Initially, detectives said they were unsure if foul play was involved. The case went cold, but it was reopened in 2008 through the Orange County district attorney's office.

McAmis, who is being held on $1-million bail, is expected to be arraigned Nov. 30.